An Organised Sun Room

The Sun tried to come out on different occasions this month but was terribly hindered by the wintery conditions that kept butting in like winds and rain and sleet and hailstones.

I was tackling the Sun Room but this fact about the weather did not encourage me at all.
Though as I write this the back garden is brightly lit from the sun after another lot of hailstones yesterday.

The Sun Room

The Sun Room in itself did not need much work as there are not too many places for items to be kept.

But a few tips are always useful to keeping it organised.

1.  Think about what you want in your Sun Room
2.  Think about what you want to be able to take outside quickly
3.  Think about how to make things HANDY!

The only cupboard we have in the Sun Room is in the TV unit and it is useful for storing light bulbs which I sorted and made a note of the types we did not have a spare one of.


Also in that cupboard we keep the 3D glasses that the kids got at various times just in case we need them to go see a 3D film sometime - which really is a very faint probability as Fred & I have not ever gone to a 3D film.  Perhaps the kids should have each kept theirs for wherever they are?


Then the other main things in that cupboard are

• a few puzzle magazines,
• Sun Tan lotion,
• Sun Tan wipes
• After Sun Wipes
• and some pairs of sunglasses.

This is a useful spot to keep these as the Sun Room opens out to the Patio and when the sun appears (for the short periods that happens here in Northern Ireland and let's face it we need to make the best opportunity as we can of those short periods of time) we can grab those things on the way out to sit on the Patio or Deck area.


The bulbs were already in a basket but these Sunny Day items were just lying in the cupboard so I got one of my favourite small Lakeland Storage Caddies for these items that we need for hopping out to sit in the sun.
You can see in the pictures above & below that it is ideal in size and that handle makes it so easy to grab.

What else might I want in that cupboard if I am going to use it daily during the next 5/6 months?

Well I decided to add

• a post it pad 
• a notepad 
• and a pen 

 because those are always useful things to have at hand instead of having to run to the study.

PLUS 

there was still room for the three remotes that are needed in that room.

Lastly 

There are two other things that I like to keep in the Sun Room but they will not be in that cupboard.

A navy fleecy throw 

which is very handy if it gets a bit cooler in the evenings 

or even if I just feel like curling up on the sofa to read .

The 4 cushions for the Patio Chairs 

which I keep in a jute type bag pretty much out of sight behind the chair which sits beside the door out to the patio so that any time we are going out for breakfast we just grab a cushion on the way past.  

With our climate the cushions never stay out!

I have already written about how much I love Arks and pictures of Arks last year but now I had decided that some of these may go soon!!! but some will stay here in the Sun Room.  Some of my favourite Ark pictures just match in nicely with the style and decor of the Sun Room.

Here are two on the bookcase that holds most of our CDs



And here is another one above a window

That does not mean that some other Ark decor items will not be found in other rooms in the house of course.

The Easy Way to Prune The Buddleia (Butterfly) Tree - Organising the Garden

Do you have a Buddleia Tree in your Garden?

Have you ever seen a tall bush that has a very attractive purple flower that tapers to a point?

This is a Buddleia Tree or as many people have named it the Butterfly Tree because it attracts butterflies to nibble and devour those lovely purple flowers.

Let me say right from the start today that this job was not FUNWORK!

No definitely not.

Why?

Because I am not a keen gardener.

I ended up tired and with sore hands and arms.

Fred was also very tired.

However it was made EASIER because 

1.  we worked together on it 

2.  we had the right tools 

3.  we had the right plan for the job.

It all started when we realised that Fred was able to take some time off last weekend from the report he was writing and the weather was dry and not too cold.

So we went out together to the front garden to tackle the pruning of the Buddleia Tree or Butterfly Tree.

Right Tools

Fred got out the big tarpaulin type thing we have for bundling up the branches to go to the dump and then started into the tree.

Now the first year we had to do this we were inexperienced and did not have 2 pruning shears nor the tarpaulin but we learned from that experience and now we are properly equipped.

When I came out Fred had already started and was busy in behind the tree.

He had one side well started

and

a pile of branches were waiting for me to cut them up smaller and put them on the tarpaulin

and

so were a second pile.

Yes that is me with the pruning shears cutting branches to make them smaller to be more manageable for collecting up and going to the dump.

Fred was of course still busy cutting at that tree

and throwing out more & more branches toward me.

When I had got through those two original piles I called Fred out to do another job that is not so hard.




Right Plan

To jump up and down on the pile on the tarpaulin so that they didn't get too high.

Definitely think he enjoys that more than the pruning from the look on his face in the different pics.

Then the same process started all over again with the rest of the branches until we had them all cut and flattened and some of another bush added to the pile.

Of course a good workman will always clean up after himself.




More Right Tools

Next comes some more very important equipment for this job.

The Bungee cords (at least that's what we call them).

I love these things because they are so very useful inside and outside the house.

Continuing the Right Plan

The tarpaulin has metal eyelets at the corners and along the sides so Fred takes one of these elasticated Bungee cords and attaches it to one of the corners and then

stretches the cord out and attaches it to the opposite corner.

He repeats this in the same way for the other two corners and then

joins the opposite sides together to complete the bundle.

Now that really is a large bundle but with the 4 cords it is well held together ready for the journey in the boot of the car to the dump.

But

will it fit in the boot of our car?

That is what we said the first time as well and there was no problem but the car we had then was bigger.

However we still have no problem with this car as well as the boot is a good size

and with the back seats down the bundle goes in easily, and yes I do help him!

The Best Tool!

Well in my eyes the best tool for this type of job is the next thing Fred decided to buy because it made my job so much easier after the first couple of years.

I call it a wood shredder because it is just like a large paper shredder.

So much easier on my hands and arms and it is amazing how large a branch it will deal with.

It even took a branch this size

and can manage thick ones well.

The Last Good Tool

Then someone Fred met at the refuge centre (dump) very kindly gave him one of those large white bags and it is easier for us to empty straight from the shredder into the bag

And easier for Fred to get in and out of the car because of the handles.

Now here is the tree when the job is finished.

It is well pruned back as these trees have to be and you do not have to be extremely careful in the pruning and as an experienced gardener told us a few years ago "the more they are pruned back the better they will flower".

So basically it is a relatively easy gardening job to do because 

you do not have to be too careful how or where you cut 

as long as you do prune it well back 

and 

do it either in March or early April (Spring)

or October (Autumn)

So to make it easier learn from us and have

the right plan

the right tools 

and 

right company 

for the job.

Now we are wondering if again we were not stringent enough in our pruning but this is roughly the same as we did last year and we had a good result from that as you can see.

And the best test of all is how many butterflies it will attract.

We had more last year than the year before although they flittered around so much it was hard to get pictures of them.

Although this was a day of hard work for me (I'm not fit) when it comes to the Summer I will have many days of pleasure because of my beautiful Butterfly Tree.

If you have a Buddleia enjoy your butterflies.

Easy Kids Heart Banner - With FREE Printable

I decided to make a Banner for the PreSchool Age Sunday School Class for Valentine's Day

Of course this could also be simply used as banner at any time of the year and is something a child could make or be helped to make for a friend as a craft at home or at Sunday School.


Basically I wanted something simple & quick to make and for which I would not need to buy extra supplies.


So I came up with this "Jesus Loves Me" banner.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

Computer
Printer
White A4 card
Remnants of Ribbon (or long piece of string)
Staples/Glue
Scissors


The link for the Free Printable for this banner can be found at the bottom of this blog post.




STAGE 1

First thing was to get on the computer
(so difficult for me as I am never ever on the computer - sarcasm here)

I used Ipiccy to make pictures of the hearts with the letters inside them.
Some of the letters are repeated in the phrase so I did not have to do every single letter.

I left the original blank one in case I decided I would like to use the same heart outline for another project.



STAGE 2

This depends on how large you actually want your letters to be.

I felt for the smaller room that it would be big enough to have each heart less than the size of an A6 card so that meant that I could have 5 to each A4 card

Then I used Powerpoint to set out the letters I needed on an A4 sized slide and printed out all the letters involved including 3 blank hearts - never waste space and they can always be used later if not needed now.

STAGE 3

The cutting out was the most tedious part but I normally do that while I'm watching something on TV so not so bad and of course never waste time.

STAGE 4

I hunted through all my remnants of ribbon to see if I would have enough pieces to put together to form a long ribbon to which I could attach all the hearts.
Spacing out the hearts to see how long this ribbon needed to be.

Thank goodness I have a long kitchen table.

STAGE 5

Then I chose the thicker longer ribbon but I could have used the thinner off white ribbon pieces and glued them together behind hearts to make it long enough.


There were 3 reasons for choosing the thicker ribbon
          1.  long enough without having to piece lengths together
          2.  thick enough to not have to be so precise with the glue
          3.  it was actually decorated with little hearts too

Simple Heart Banner Kids Craft - Quick & Easy to make With FREE Printable

So I placed all the letters carefully alongside to get the right spacing before pressing each letter against the glue dots on the roll of dots.

Each heart got some glue in two places (the tops of the curves)

Before I pressed them all unto the ribbon.

As you can see I used glue dots because they make this type of thing so easy, neater & much quicker than using my glue gun.

Don't forget to download your free printable for the "Jesus Loves Me Heart Banner" HERE  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.


Or pin this for later:

Don't forget to let me know if you try it out.

Magnetic Attendance / Chores Chart Tutorial

I have a very easy craft to share with you today.

          It is a simple tutorial for making a

 Magnetic Attendance Board 

for your Sunday School class or a small Children's Church. 

Of course it could be made for several other things for your own kids at home eg.

Chores Chart
Reading Practice Chart
Homework Chart

It is quite easy to make and is designed to be reused 

or adapted later for other uses.

Today is definitely a FUNWORK Post for me but did help me clear an item out of my kitchen so I think I can claim that a tiny bit of decluttering was involved too.



The Materials Required:

• Ruler
• Scissors
• Coloured string or ribbon
• Small round sticky backed magnets
• Sticky backed magnetic strip (which I already had cut into pieces from an previous time)
• Liquid Chalk Pen (or you can use ordinary chalk)
• Blackboard paint (I had only about a fifth of this small tin left from a previous time and didn't even use all of that)
• Paint brush

And 

      An old baking tray or cookie sheet.

As you can see my baking tray was scratched and stained and I had 3 newer ones and was about to throw this one out so it was just good timing.

Why not upcycle instead of throwing it out!

I had seen various ideas around reusing cookie sheets recently & thought I could try something easy and I needed a new idea for attendance for the Sunday School Class from New Year to Easter so this was my idea.

First I made sure the baking tray was clean and then enlisted the help of my husband and his drill.

Now this part was easy and I could have done it myself if he would let me but he does practically all that kind of work in the house so I was happy to let him do this for me.

Using quite a narrow drill piece he bored two holes in the tray in what was to be the top two corners so that the tray would hang horizontally (so the two corners along a long side)

He then informed me that something else had to be done before he would give me back my tray.

He explained that drilling the holes would leave rough edges on the back of the tray and I could clearly see what he meant.

But he had a very simple solution for making them smooth again.

You simply get a wider drill bit and use that on the back of the tray.

So as well as taking a picture of this part I also took this short video while he was doing it.

It definitely made a good difference to the edge of the holes and will not scratch anything it touches.

Next step was to get the old newspaper down on the table and start painting the tray with the blackboard paint.

Easy job.  I'm not that great at making a smooth finish but it was fine except that it seemed to be drying quickly while I painted.

I painted the main section and the trim around the front but I did not bother to paint the back as it was not going to be seen.

I let it dry for a while and then put on 13 of the round magnets to see about spacing as there will be 13 weeks between New Year and Easter.

Plenty of room across the tray for the weeks.

Then I tried the rectangular magnets and I would need around 10 of these so wanted to check that spacing as well down the left hand side.

However when I removed the magnets it was obvious that I hadn't waited long enough to let it dry completely and small marks were left from the paint coming off.

This meant a second coat of paint and waiting long enough for this one to be completely dry before the next step.

I used the ruler and the liquid chalk pen to draw a line down leaving enough space for the length of the rectangular magnets at the left and wrote the heading of "NAME" 

Next I wrote the heading of "ATTENDANCE"

Then I threaded the end of my coloured string through the hole at the left hand side from back through to the front and tied a double knot which would be thick enough not to pull back through the hole.

I measured & cut off enough of the string to be able to hang the board up and tie a knot at the other end and my board was completed.

Now for the names.

I got out my labeller that I have had for so many years that I have forgotten how long and chose black lettering on a blue background for the boys and black lettering on a red background for the girls.

Then I stripped off the paper from the sticky side of the magnet and stuck the name on in its place on each magnet.

The names can also simple be written on thin card and stuck to the sticky part of the magnets.

I trimmed off the edges of the magnets so that the names looked nicer and then they were ready to be placed on the board.

The names were spaced out nicely on the board and it was ready to go to church with a small container of the small round magnets.

This is the finished product 

It has been used for 2 weeks now in the Sunday School Class 

and I am rather pleased with it.